Maoist carrying Rs 15 lakh reward surrenders in Ranchi

RANCHI: Top Maoist commander and regional committee member Indel Ganjhu alias Lallan Ganjhu, who was wanted in 145 cases registered in Jharkhand and Bihar, surrendered under 'Nayi Disha' policy of the state government on Thursday at the Inspector General (IG) south Chhotanagpur office in Ranchi.
Ganjhu is an accused in 48 cases registered with different police stations in Chatra district, five in Hazaribag district and one in Palamu district in Jharkhand. He is also named in 78 cases lodged at police stations of Gaya district and 13 in Aurangabad district in Bihar.
The cases are related to murders, attempts to murder, damages to public properties, violation of arms act and others.
Police said that the surrender comes a month after Chatra police killed five top Maoists, including two special area committee members and three sub-zonal commanders, and added that Ganjhu laid down arms due to police pressure on the Maoists.
"Ganjhu, a native of Gaya district, was one of the top Maoist commanders of Madhya zone comprising Chatra-Palamu sub-zone and Koleshwari sub-zone and was active in CPI (Maoist) organisation for 20 years. He was engaged in policy determination, planning and implementation of violent incidents. The Jharkhand government had announced a reward of Rs 15 lakh on his head," IG (operations) Amol Homkar said.
He said that Madhya zone was considered a safe haven for Maoists. "With Ganjhu's surrender, the organisation is weakened and may even disintegrate. There is possibility of several extremists surrendering in the future," he said. Homkar said that after police regained control over Budha Pahar, several Maoists groups had made Madhya zone a base for carrying out their activities.
CRPF IG Vidhi Kumar Birdi congratulated the Jharkhand police and the CRPF for the success adding other extremists should also lay down their arms.
Ganjhu said that he had joined the organisation to get support in a land dispute. He said that Maoists are considerably weakened now and hardly engage in any activity. "I appeal to other extremists to surrender before police. The police treat the surrendered extremists properly," he said.
The Jharkhand police are also reaching out to the extremists and their family members to convey the message that the youths who joined left wing extremism groups are welcome if they want to surrender.